Who doesn’t love a good juicy meatball?!

After exploring many methods, we noticed three key things to maximise the juiciness of meatballs: minced meat with 15 to 20% fat, moisten bread crumbs, and NOT overcooking those balls! We combine beef and pork mince for better taste and texture and having a higher fat percentage just makes them much more flavoursome and juicy. Using milk or water to moisten the bread crumbs will add moisture and tenderness to the meatballs making them extra extra juicy! To avoid having dry tough meatballs, you have to avoid overcooking them, that’s why we like using the thermometer for more accuracy.

To begin, stir bread pieces with milk in a large mixing bowl until evenly coated and leave it aside for 5 minutes to soak, followed by mashing with a fork. In the same bowl, add all the meatball ingredients which include ground beef and pork, cheese, egg, garlic mince, shallots, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well together. It’s much easier with your hands! However, do not overmix to prevent tough meatballs.

Time to roll up the balls! Dip your hands with a little bit of olive oil or water to get them wet and roll up the meatballs into approximately 60 grams size each and place them on baking paper sheets.

To sautéed the meatballs, start by heating 1 tablespoon of oil in pan over medium heat, and place the meatballs in. Cook in batches instead of putting them all in to avoid overcrowding. Enjoy the sizzling sound!! Add remaining oil as you go with new batches. Sautéed the meatballs until internal temperature is about 70°C, which takes about 11 minutes. Make sure to turn the meatballs every 2 mins to ensure all sides are evenly browned. Put aside to rest once they are done.

We love having these meatballs with tomato-based sauce, so we have used marinara sauce for this recipe. Feel free to have these meatballs in any other sauce base or even BBQs! We used store-bought marinara sauce, if you’d like to home-make it, even better!

To prepare the sauce, de-glaze the pan by pouring in the red wine, followed by adding the marinara sauce. Let it simmer over low to medium heat until it bubbles indicating it’s hot, and put all the meatballs in for no longer than 30 seconds, stirring them in the sauce. Ensure not to overcook them! Otherwise, they’ll get dry!

To serve, sprinkle over with some grated cheese or chopped parsley, and dig in just by themselves or with pasta or mashed potatoes, whatever you prefer!